Entries Tagged 'Articles' ↓

In Spring into writing, part 1, we dipped our toes into some fresh descriptive writing and journaling ideas. Today, in honor of the season, let’s play around with a bit of whimsical poetry.

An Acrostic Poem

Who says poems have to rhyme? Using the letters in the word SPRING, create an acrostic poem about the season. A line can be a single word, a phrase or partial thought, or a complete sentence.

The first poem makes use of simple descriptive phrases. Notice the repeated letters and sounds? Continue reading →

It’s spring fever…. You don’t quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  –Mark Twain

Spring has sprung…along with a serious bout of spring fever! Warmer weather, refreshing spring showers, tender shoots of grass, and unfurling buds issue a siren’s call to your children, who want to ditch school in the worst way and just plain frolic.

How can you help them stay on task while allowing them to revel in the joy of an April morning? For a welcome break, why not take writing outdoors now and then as the weather beckons? Tote notebook and pencil to park, field, or yard and try some of these refreshing ideas. You’ll find that none require your student to write a full-fledged composition—but they do make great writing warm-ups or entertaining exercises for the more reluctant writers in your family.

Spring Journaling Prompts

Sometimes, all a child needs is an idea. A writing prompt is designed to be a springboard. Have her pick a topic and begin to write. Whether she ends up with three sentences or three pages, let her just write. Don’t red-pencil her journaling efforts—save your comments for actual writing instruction. Here are some friendly questions to prompt the writer in your child:

• What three things are you the most thankful for during spring? What makes them so special?
• Write about three things that you most enjoy about springtime.
• How do the pleasant days and freshness of spring affect your mood and attitude? How does spring make you feel positive and hopeful?
• What do you feel or think about when you take a walk on a spring day?
• Write about your favorite spring memory.

Descriptive Writing

Vivid description makes writing come to life. Encourage your kids to practice using strong nouns and verbs, colorful adjectives, and precise adverbs. Instead of writing a composition, they should aim for a list of descriptive phrases or sentences.

• Sit on a bench or take a walk in your neighborhood or park. Describe some of the sights you see. Which paints a more vivid mental picture: Flowers blow gently in the breeze, or Golden poppies nod sleepily? Pink clouds drift in the sky, or Rosy wisps of cotton candy drift in the sky? Specific words do make a difference, so pick them wisely!
• Close your eyes and listen attentively. Do you hear the chipper chirp of a bluebird? The lazy drone of a honeybee? The rustle of leaves in the elm tree? Write descriptively about what you hear.

Next week, join me for Spring into writing, part 2. I’ll share some simple yet creative spring poetry ideas!

Copyright © 2008 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

As promised…the final installment in our three-part series called Teaching Writing.

• In Part 1, we talked about the struggles and the anguish common to reluctant writers and to parents who feel insecure about teaching writing. 
• Part 2 introduced some simple steps you can take to begin to make writing more enjoyable.

Today you’ll learn how the writing process can help free your struggling or reluctant writer from her self-imposed torture. And of course, reluctant writers aren’t the only ones who benefit. Make sure that your eager, motivated writers take their compositions through these steps as well to ensure a well-written final draft.

Continue reading →

Last week in Teaching writing, part 1, I promised you some good news, and here it is: writing doesn’t have to be a tearful, hair-pulling experience! Plant a few seeds by trying some of these simple ideas, and soon your kids’ writing will begin to bloom!

Establish limits. When you set limits—such as giving step-by-step directions for the writing project—your children will feel more secure in their efforts. Provide concrete help by way of checklists, brainstorming worksheets, or skill-building exercises. Even something as simple as limiting composition length allows the reluctant writer to admit, “OK. I can write five to seven sentences.”

Expand skills. Start by introducing students to the thesaurus so they can choose more vivid, descriptive, or concrete words. As they make stronger word choices, not only will their vocabulary improve, their writing will begin to sparkle as well.

As a side note, our very favorite thesaurus is The Synonym Finder. Entries are alphabetical, so it’s easy to use. Plus, it’s the most complete thesaurus we’ve found. If you only have a junior thesaurus on your bookshelf, it can frustrate your kids because they may have a hard time finding entries for the words they use. The Synonym Finder, on the other hand, is comprehensive. They’re sure to find just the word they’re looking for.

In addition, teach your students to incorporate grammar concepts into their writing. Are they learning about prepositional phrases or appositives, for instance? Require them use one in a current composition.

Offer variety. Your kids’ writing diet consists mainly of boring book reports, change things up a bit!

• Descriptive writing lessons help students use their senses to zoom in on details—the crunch of golden leaves underfoot; the rich, buttery aroma of sugar cookies browning in the oven; the mournful howl of a winter gust as it whips through barren branches.
• Informative writing can include biographies, news articles, recipes, advice columns, short reports, instruction manuals, and more. As students get older, introduce persuasive essays and research papers as well.
• Narrative writing can take students well beyond the mundane memoirs of last summer’s vacation! Your kids can have so much more fun with their writing when they interview someone and write a narrative of his or her emotional experience. Or, they can retell a simple fable or Bible story from the perspective of one of the characters. For additional variety, introduce personification by asking them to write a story from the first-person point of view of an object. “I Am a Mirror” or “I, Weedwhacker” can inspire some lively prose!

The last part of the series, Teaching writing, part 3: The writing process, will appear next Monday, April 7. Come on back to learn how to use the writing process to set your kids up for success!

Copyright © 2008 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

It should have been so easy.

After all, you weren’t asking for much—just a story or something. To simplify things, you didn’t even care how long it should be. Or what topic he picked. Given a lot of freedom, you reasoned, he wouldn’t feel so squished or frustrated…and the words would just flow.

So what went wrong?

Your plan backfired miserably, and now your son hunches tearfully over a mountain of wadded pages, each one a smudged and wrinkled reminder of what he already believes about himself: I can’t write!

If it’s any comfort, you’re not alone. This scene plays out at kitchen tables and makeshift schoolrooms around the country, where dejected students scrunch up papers, break pencils, bang keyboards, and cry buckets—and disheartened moms throw up their hands in frustration.

Maybe it helps to know that homeschoolers everywhere share the same lament: Why is writing so hard to teach?

Continue reading →

“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

Ever try out a new recipe on your family? After poring over cookbooks, shopping for ingredients, and chopping, simmering, and stirring all afternoon, wouldn’t you be crushed to hear your husband grumble: What is this stuff? Why’d you have to put mushrooms in it? There’s too much garlic. It’s too runny. It needs salt. This tastes awful!

Even if it were true.

We all know how demoralizing it feels to be squished by a withering comment. We also know the warm glow that embraces us when someone speaks a word of affirmation. It should come as no surprise that our words yield such influence. After all, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

Of course there are times when correction is warranted—daily, in most homes! Beds made in a sloppy hurry. Dishes coagulating in the sink. Careless math errors. A hastily written paper. Backtalk. Do we gently reprove, or do we rebuke harshly?

As a child, when I was pouty, whiny, demanding, or mean, my dad would say, “You’ll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar.” Dad didn’t know the Lord back then, but he sure understood the scriptural principle about the power of our words: Continue reading →

Eye-catching and effective, paired adjectives make a colorful splash in the sea of prose.  From turn-of-the-century literature to modern Bible translations, and from New York Times bestsellers to Newsweek magazine, they have proven themselves a valuable addition to the category of sentence variations. Paired adjectives have even found their way into such unlikely settings as marketing displays and museum plaques. Why? Because this dynamic sentence opener is both unusual and catchy, grabbing the reader’s attention. Continue reading →